Tube and flue expander



Jan. 23, 1934. G K 1,944,338

TUBE AND FLUE EXPANDER Filed May 4, 1932 his /4 7' TQFP/VE Y Patented Jan. 23, 1934 UNHTED STAES ar ssa QFFECE TUBE AND FLUE EXPANDER Gustav Wiedeke, Dayton,

Ohio, assignor to Application May 4, 1932.

15 Claims.

This invention relates to tube and flue expanders and more particularly to means for controlling the feeding operations of such expanders.

The ordinary expander is provided with flaring rollers to flare the outer end of the tube and one or more of the expanding rollers is set at an angle to the length of the expander to impart feeding movement thereto and draw the flaring rollers into the end of the tube to properly flare the same. If no means is provided for limiting the inward movement of the expander the outer ends of the flaring rollers will sometimes be drawn into the flared portion of the tube. This is especially apt to occur if the tube is of slightly less than standard thickness or the expander is of a size smaller than the tube. When the ends of the flaring rollers are thus drawn into the flared end of the tube the outer edges or corners of the rollers will form spiral indentations or threads in the end of the flare, which is objectionable. Some expanders are provided with guards which straddle the end of the frame and engage the tube or tube sheet to limit the inward movement of the expander, but in some tube installations, such as headers for oil stills or the like, such a guard cannot be used because of the limited space within the header.

As the expander rotates in the tube the expanding rollers force the metal of the tube ahead of the rollers, thus producing small longitudinal bulges or ribs on the inner surface of the tube. With the manually operated expanders the tapered mandrel, which imparts radial or expanding movement to the expanding rollers, is fed inwardly at intervals by hand, usually by driving it in with a hammer, and the expander is rotated after each feeding movement of the mandrel, thereby smoothing out the bulges or ribs and uniformly expanding all'parts of the tube. With a power operated expander the mandrel is fed continuously by the power mechanism and the feeding movement of the mandrel continues as long as the expander is rotated. Consequently no movement is imparted to the expanding rollers after the inward movement of the mandrel has ceased and the bulges or ribs remain in the tube. The forming of these bulges in the tube tends to draw the outer surface of tube, adjacent to the bulge, away from the wall of the tube opening and it is found in practice that when leakage OCCLll'S it is usually at a point adjacent to a bulge or rib which has thus been formed in the tube.

One object of the invention is to provide means for limiting the inward movement of the ex- Serial No. 609,090

pander frame'and flaring rollers which will be of such a character that it will occupy but little space and may be used wherever the expander can be used.

A further object of the invention is to provide such a device which will be simple in construction and which may be applied to the expander at small cost.

A further object of the invention is to provide a device for automatically stopping the feeding movement of the mandrel without interfering with the continued rotation of the expander as a whole.

A further object of the invention is to provide a device which may be adjusted to stop the feeding movement of the mandrel at any desired point in its travel.

A further object of the invention is to provide such a stop device which will be of a simple inexpensive character and will not interfere with the normal operation of the expander.

Other objects of the invention will appear as the device is described in detail.

In the accompanying drawing Fig. 1 is a longitudinal sectional view taken through an expander showing my invention applied thereto; Fig. 2 is a transverse section taken on the line 2-2 of Fig. 1; Fig. 3 is a transverse section taken on the line 33 of Fig. 1; Fig. 4 is a transverse section taken on the line 4-4 of Fig. 1; Fig. 5 is a detail view of the stop disk; and Fig. 6 is a longitudinal section taken through an expander showing a modified form of the invention.

In this drawing I have illustrated one embodiment of my invention, with a minor modification thereof, and have shown the same as applied to a tube or flue expander of a well known type. It will be understood, however, that this embodiment has been chosen for-the purposes of illustration only and that the invention may take various forms and may be applied to tube and flue expanders of various types.

The expander here illustrated comprises a frame 10 having a longitudinal bore 11 and having a plurality of slots arranged about said bore and adapted to receive expanding rollers 12 which are radially movable therein. These rollers may be of any suitable character but, in the present instance, each roller comprises a single part. Arranged at the ends of a part or all of the expanding rollers are frusto conical flaring rollers 13. In the present instance, these flaring rollers are mounted in the same slots with the expanding rollers 12, in the rear of the expanding rollers, but it is not essential that they be in the same slots with the expanding rollers. Preferably one or more of the expanding rollers is set at an angle to the length of the frame, in the usual manner, so that upon the rotation of the frame this inclined roller will impart inward movement to the frame and draw the flaring rollers into the end of the tube and thus flare the latter. In Fig. 1, I have shown the expander as inserted in a tube 14 which is mounted in a tube opening in a header 15, such as forms part of an oil still. It will be noted that a part of the header extends outwardly beyond the end of the tube and is recessed, as shown at 16, to receive the flared end of the tube. This outwardly extending part of the header is of a diameter little greater than the overall diameter of the expander. In such a header the end of the tube is usually spaced some distance from the outer wall of the header and this outer wall is provided with an opening through which the expander may be inserted, and to facilitate the insertion of the expander through such an opening and into the end of the tube, the frame, as shown in Fig. 1, is provided with an outer tubular extension 17 which forms a part of the frame and serves as a handle. A tapered mandrel 22 extends through the longitudinal bore of the frame and engages the several rollers to impart both radial and rotatory movement thereto, the rotatory movement of the roll ers causing the expander as a whole to rotate.

Because of the limited space within the header the guard which is usually employed to limit the inward movement of the expander cannot be used and in order to prevent the rear ends of the flaring rollers from being drawn into the flared end of the tube I have provided a stop device which is mounted on the frame in such a position that it will engage the outer end of the tube and check the inward movement of the expander and flaring rollers when the rear ends of the flaring rollers are adjacent to or even with the outer edge of the tube. This device is of such a character and so arranged that it extends but a short distance beyond theside of the expander frame and therefore will not interfere with the use of the expander in headers or other structures having but little space about the. tube. This stop device may be mounted on the frame in any suitable position with relation to the flaring rollers which will enable it to engage the end of the tube at the desired point in the inward travel of the expander. Preferably it is mounted in the same slot in which one of the rollers is mounted and in Fig. 1 it is shown as located in the same slot with one of the flaring rollers and is positioned close to and substantially parallel with the outer end of that flaring roller, with its outer portion proing roller.

jecting beyond the flaring roller far enough to enable it to engage the end of the tube. It is desirable that this stop device should be rotatable so as to offer a minimum of frictional resistance to the rotation of the frame. I therefore prefer to provide the same in the form of a small flat disk 18 which may be inserted in the outer end of the slot beyond the flaring roller, that slot being extended slightly to receive the disk and the disk being of such a diameter that its outer portion will extend beyond the outer portion of the flar- The disk may be rotatably retained within the slot in various Ways, as by providing the same with an opening 19 to receive a pintle 20 carried by a screw 21 which is threaded in a longitudinal opening in the frame at the rear end of the slot. The openingin the disk is of such a size and character that the disk will not only rotate about the pintle but may have radial movement with relation to the pintle, thus permitting it to move into the frame when the mandrel is retracted and to be moved outwardly by the mandrel when the latter is moved to its operative position. This outward movement of the disk causes it to project beyond the frame and flaring roller and thereafter the mandrel will move the flaring roller and disk outwardly in unison. It will be apparent therefore that the inward feeding movement of the expander will continue until the stop disk has engaged the end of the tube and that the feeding movement will then be interrupted without interfering with the continued rotation of the expander. Ordinarily a single stop device will be sufiicient to control the feeding movement of the expander but obviously any suitable number of such deviees may be provided.

In Fig. 6, I have shown a slightly different arrangement of the stop disk. As there shown, the frame is similar to the frame 10 above described except that it does not have the rearwardly extending tubular portion or handle. A part of the slots in the frame contain both expanding rollers 41 and flaring rollers 42 but one of the slots does not contain a flaring roller and the expanding roller 43 in that slot is of such a length. that it will extend beyond the forward ends of the flaring rollers so as to smooth out any rib or fin which may be formed between the expanding rollers and flaring rollers in the other slots. A stop disk 4% is mounted in this slot at the end of the long roller and is retained therein I by a pintle 45 mounted in the end wall of the slot. It projects outwardly beyond the path of travel of the rollers so as to engage the flared end of the tube and thus stop the inward move- It may be arranged in ment of the expander. any suitable relation to the flaring rollers of the other slots but in the position here shown it will stop the inward movement of the expander while the rear ends of the flaring rollers still project slightly to the rear of the end of the tube, the flaring rollers here shown being somewhat longer than the flaring rollers shown in Fig. 1.

In order to'automatieally interrupt the inward or feeding movement of the mandrel with out interlering with the continued rotation of the frame and rollers I have provided the mandrel with a stop device which cooperates with the frame to interrupt the inward movement of the mandrel when the latter has been fed inwardly far enough to impart the desired radial movement to the expanding rollers. This stop device may take various forms. I have here shown it as a collar 23 mounted about the mandrel, preferably beyond the outer end ofthe tapered portion of the latter. The collar is adjustable lengthwise of the mandrel, to enable the amount of radial movement imparted to the expanding rollers to be varied, and is, in the present instance, provided with a set screw 24 to secure it to the mandrel in adjusted positions.

Preferably the mandrel is provided with one or more longitudinal rows of transverse recesses adapted to receive the end of the setscrew and positively hold the collar against rearward move ment with relation to the mandrel. As here shown, the mandrel is provided with three rows of recesses, 25, the several rows being spaced apart about the mandrel and the notches or recesses of the several rows being arranged in staggered relation so that a fine adjustment of the stop collar may be secured. In the present instance, the rear walls of adjacent notches in each row are spaced apartapproximately threeeighths of an inch and the notches in the several rows are so staggered that by selecting the proper notch in the proper row a longitudinal adjustment of ,an eighth of an inch may be secured. If desired, the collar may be provided in its inner end with a circumferential recess 26 and an anti-friction device, such as a ball bearing, 2'7, mounted in that recess to engage the outer end of the expander frame and thus check the inward movement of the mandrel while offering a minimum resistance to the rotation of the mandrel with relation to the frame. This mandrel stop is secured to the mandrel in the desired position prior to the expanding operation and when the tube has been expanded to the desired extent the stop will automatically engage the end of the frame and positively prevent any further inward movement of the mandrel with relation to the frame, thus preventing the overrolling or excessive expansion of the tube. However, the stop does not prevent the continued rotation of the mandrel to actuate the frame and rollers to smooth out any bulges or irregularities which may be in the inner surface of the tube.

'The continued rotation of the mandrel, after the mandrel stop has engaged the end of the frame, may tend to cause the frame to move inwardly and thus carry the expanding and flaring rollers into the tube a greater distance than is desired but, in the present construction, the inward movement of the frame is positively limited by the frame stop 18 which engages the end of the tube and limits the inward movement of the frame without interfering with its continued rotation. Consequently by the combined operation of the two stops the expanding action is automatically controlled to cause the tube to be properly expanded and flared and to permit the same to be rolled smooth at the end of the expanding operation without danger of overexpansion or of carrying the flaring rollers inwardly beyond the flared end of the tube.

When the expander frame is not provided with an extension 17 the tapered portion of the mandrel will extend beyond the outer end of the frame and inasmuch as it is desirable that the stop device should be mounted on an outer portion of the mandrel, beyond the tapered portion thereof, I have in Fig. 6 shown a modified form of stop device. The collar is there shown at 28 and is mounted on the outer portion of the mandrel and secured thereto in adjusted positions by a set screw 29. Extending inwardly from the collar is an extension or sleeve 30 adapted to overlap the tapered portion of the mandrel and engage the outer end of the frame. If desired, the inner end of this extension may be enlarged as shown at 31 and provided with a recess 32 and an anti-friction device 33.

While I have shown and described one em bodiment of my invention, together with a modiflcation thereof, I wish it to be understood that I do not desire to be limited to the details thereof as various modifications may occur to a person skilled in the art.

Having now fully described my invention, what I claim as new and desire to secure by Letters Patent, is:

1. In a tube or flue expander comprising a rotatable frame, expanding and flaring rollers mounted in said frame, and means for actuating said frame and said rollers, a stop disk rotatably mounted in said frame adjacent to the rear end of one of said flaring rollers on an axis extending lengthwise of said frame and spaced laterally from the axis of said frame, said disk extending outwardly beyond said flaring roller.

2. In a tube or flue expander comprising a frame, expanding and flaring rollers mounted in said frame, and means for actuating said frame and said rollers, a stop disk rotatably mounted in said frame adjacent to the rear end of one of said flaring rollers on an axis extending lengthwise of said frame, said disk extending outwardly beyond said flaring roller and being mounted for radial movement by said actuating means.

3. In a tube or flue expander comprising a frame having slots therein, expanding and flaring rollers mounted in said slots, and means for actuating said frame and said rollers, a stop disk rotatably mounted in one of said slots at the rear end of a roller therein and extending outwardly beyond said frame to engage the flared end of the tube, and means for retaining said disk in said slot.

4. In a tube or flue expander comprising a frame having slots therein, expanding and flaring rollers mounted in said slots, and means for actuating said frame and said rollers, a stop device rotatably mounted in one of said slots at the rear end of a flaring roller therein, arranged parallel with the rear end of said flaring roller and extending outwardly beyond the same.

5. In a tube or flueexpander comprising a frame having slots therein, expanding and flaring rollers mounted in said slots, and means for actuating said frame and said rollers, a flat disk mounted in one of said slots with its forward face close to the rear end of a flaring roller in said slot, said disk being rotatable about an axis substantially parallel with the axis of said flaring roller and extending outwardly beyond said flaring roller. 1

6. In a tube or flue expander comprising a frame having slots therein, expanding and flaring rollers mounted in said slots, and means for actuating said frame and said rollers, a disk mounted in one of said slots at the rear end of a flaring roller therein, extending outwardly beyond said flaring roller and having an opening therein, and a pintle mounted in said frame and extending into the opening in said disk.

7. In a tube or flue expander comprising a frame having slots therein, expanding and flaring rollers mounted in said slots, and means for actuating said frame and said rollers, a disk mounted in one of said slots at the rear end of a flaring roller therein, extending outwardly beyond said flaring roller and having an opening therein, and a pintle mounted in said frame and extending into the opening in said disk, said opening in said disk being of such size that said disk may have bodily movement transverse to said pintle.

8. In a tube and flue expander comprising a frame having slots therein, expanding and flaring rollers mounted in said slots, the expanding A Ltd frame, expanding and flaring rollers mounted in said frame, and means for actuating said frame and said rollers, a stopdevice mounted on said frame adjacent to the rear end of one of said flaring rollers for outward movement with relation thereto and arranged to be moved outwardly by said actuating means to cause the same to project beyond said flaring roller and to be then moved outwardly in unison with said flaring roller.

10. In a tube or flue expander comprising a frame having slots therein, expanding and flaring rollers mounted. in said slots, and means for actuating said frame and said rollers, a stop device mounted in one of said slots at the rear end of a roller therein for outward movement with relation to said roller to cause said device to project outwardly beyond said frame and to engage the end of the tube.

11. In a tube or flue expander comprising a frame having slots therein, expanding and flaring rollers mounted in said slots, and a mandrel for actuating said frame and said rollers, a step device mounted in one of said slots at the rear end of a flaring roller therein for outward movement with relation to said flaring roller and arranged to be actuated by said mandrel.

12. In a tube and flue expander comprising a rotatable frame, expanding and flaring rollers mounted in said frame, and means for actuating said frame and said rollers, a stop disk mounted on said frame for rotation about an axis substantially parallel with the axis of one of said rollers and spaced laterally from the axis of said frame, said disk extending beyond the path of travel of said flaring rollers and arranged to engage the end of the tube which is being expanded when the rear ends of said flaring rollers are adjacent to the end of said tube.

13. In a tube and flue expander comprising a frame, expanding and flaring rollers mounted in said frame, and means for actuating said frame and said rollers, a stop device mounted on said frame for in and out movement independently of said rollers and having a part arranged in a transverse plane adjacent to the transverse plane of the rear end of one of said flaring rollers, said stop device being arranged to be engaged and actuated by said actuating means to cause said part thereof to extend outwardly beyond the path of said flaring roller andto engage the end of the tube which is to be expanded.

14. .In a tube or flue expander comprising a frame having a longitudinal bore and having slots, arranged about said bore, expanding rollers mounted in said slots and a mandrel mounted for rotary and longitudinal movement in said bore and having a tapered portion to engage said rollers and impart expanding movement thereto in accordance with the longitudinal movement of said mandrel, a stop mounted on said mandrel for adjustment lengthwise thereof and comprising a collar having a recess in the inner side thereof to receive the end of said frame, and an anti-friction bearing mounted in said recess, said stop also having means for rigidly securing the same to said mandrel at a point spaced such a distance from the inner end of said mandrel that said stop will engage said frame and interrupt the inward movement of the mandrel when a predetermined expanding movement has been imparted to said expanding rollers.

15. In a tube or flue expander comprising a frame having a longitudinal bore and having slots arranged about said bore, expanding rollers and flaring rollers mounted in said slots, and a mandrel mounted for rotary and longitudinal movement in said bore and having a tapered portion to engage said rollers and impart expanding and flaring movement thereto in accordance with the longitudinal movement of said mandrel, means for automatically controlling the expanding and flaring movement of said rollers comprising a stop mounted on said frame for substantially radial movement with relation to said flaring rollers and arranged to be engaged and actuated by said mandrel to cause the same to project beyond the path of said flaring rollers, and a stop mounted on said mandrel for longitudinal adjustment with relation thereto and having means for rigidly securing the same to said mandrel at such a distance from the inner end of the latter that said stop will engage said frame and interrupt the inward movement of said mandrel when a predetermined expanding movement has been imparted to said expanding rollers.

' GUSTAV WIEDEKE. 

